Friday, July 30, 2010

Mayer married his wife, Tillie, and had 2 children in Russia before leaving the Kovno region (see above map, now Kaunus, Lithuania) to arrive in America in 1885. He renounced his citizenship as a subject of the Emperor of Russia, and with Adam Adler as his reference, became a new US citizen in 1900. Tillie and Mayer had 5 more children in America, where he lived for 25 years before his early death. His wife Tillie lived to be 99 years old!

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

I'm once again transcribing letters sent to Mom. One of her friends (temporarily living in California) mentions local slang, circa spring 1946. Lush means luscious, as in "that coat is lush." Icky means, well, icky--but apparently that wasn't slang familiar to a young lady from the Bronx. This was interesting enough to merit a paragraph in a one-page letter. Who knew?

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

In our family, calling an aunt "Auntie" was (and is) a mark of respect and affection. My sisters and I had a few aunts, but only one Auntie, our favorite (my mom's twin). No other name was needed--she was just Auntie. Now, as an adult, I'm delighted to be one of the Aunties of my generation.

It's the same with "Cousin" or "Cuz," which in our family are affectionate terms rather than being formal honorifics. I enjoy calling one of my cousins and saying, "Hi Cousin, it's Cousin Marian" or just "Hi, Cuz." And if you get called "Sweet Cuz," you're really the top!

I'm certainly going to note these honorifics in the family story. What are your family's honorifics?

About Me

Who writes college marketing textbooks? Even in the digital age, somebody has to do it. Back in my corporate days, I was a bank marketing exec and retail manager. Education: MBA from LIU; BA from CCNY. Hobby: Genealogy!